Karen Brown

WBUR health reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, and myself, teamed up for an on-air conversation about the state’s health reform programs — looking at some geographic differences between Eastern and Western Massachusetts, and highlighting some of the people we’ve each interviewed on the ground. WFCR and WBUR both aired it in two parts, on December 1-2, 2009.

Listen here for Part 1, focusing on affordability of health care in Massachusetts.

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Listen here for Part 2, looking at access to health care.

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As it gets more difficult to make an appointment with a primary care doctor, one business model is picking up the slack: walk-in medical centers. Walk-in clinics — from drugstore chains that offer limited services from a nurse to stand-alone clinics operated by emergency room doctors — are increasingly treating people who either don’t have a regular doctor or can’t get in to see one when they need to. And if Congress succeeds in passing a nationwide health insurance mandate, the urgent care industry expects even more growth.

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Or click HERE for national NPR story.

Aired on WFCR on October 8, 2009, and on NPR’s All Things Considered, Nov. 20, 2009.

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The health insurance of about 30,000 legal immigrants in Massachusetts hangs in the balance. The budget passed in June by the legislature would end their state-sponsored health insurance by September, but the Governor wants to restore 70 million dollars of the cuts. In the meantime, many immigrants are worried about how they will pay for healthcare.

This story aired on WFCR on July 16, 2009.

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The one thing that almost everyone involved in the health care debate agrees on — is that health costs in America are out of control. In Massachusetts, a state commission has been studying ways to change how healthcare is paid for, and it’s expected to report its recommendations Thursday (7/16/09). Meanwhile, the state’s largest insurance company is piloting a new payment system that it claims will keep down costs without sacrificing care.

This story aired on WFCR July 15th, 2009.

In anticipation of the Obama health plan, I wrote an article for Kaiser Health News about the Massachusetts law requiring everyone to have health insurance — how is the “individual mandate” going over in Mass, from a consumer standpoint, and what does that tell us about how it might go over nationally?

Gary Cloutier

WESTFIELD, Mass. — If Congress wants all Americans to get health insurance, it will have to win over people like Gary Cloutier, owner of Cloots Auto Body Shop.

The stocky 47-year-old shows up every day to a cluttered, fume-filled garage, even when there are few cars to repair. His business has plunged 40 percent in the last year, since people stopped getting their fenders fixed. Some months he doesn’t pay himself a salary, and his utility bills pile up unpaid. So the idea of buying health insurance right now seems ludicrous. “Where am I supposed to get the money from?” Cloutier asks.

His question is directed squarely at the state of Massachusetts, the first in the nation to require all its residents to have health insurance. But it also goes to the heart of what President Obama and many in Congress are working towards – universal coverage. Achieving that goal would likely require most Americans to pay some or all of the cost of obtaining policies at a time when people are losing jobs and income…..

To read the full story, click here

Lucas Wyant

Story that aired on NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered – focused on the individual mandate in Massachusetts. The accompanying text was written for Kaiser Health News, a new nonprofit news service on health policy. (5/31/09)

Click here for the NPR story.